Various types of corkscrews are known for removing a cork from a bottle. The conventional corkscrew comprises an auger and a handle. The auger is rotated into the cork and then pulled upwardly to extract the cork from the bottle. Other types of corkscrews employ levers which are used to pull the auger upwardly after rotating the auger into the cork. Most conventional corkscrews require a great deal of effort in order to extract the cork from the bottle.
Automatic corkscrews are known which utilize a motor driven auger to first penetrate and then extract a cork from the bottle. One such device is shown in the patent to Chiang, U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,261. This corkscrew comprises a motor driven auger inside a drawing tube. The drawing tube is inserted over the mouth of the bottle and the auger is rotated into the cork. As the auger rotates, the cork is pulled upwardly into the drawing tube. Once the cork is removed, the motor can be reversed to remove the cork from the drawing tube.
Automatic corkscrews, such as described in the patent to Chiang, greatly minimize the effort needed to extract a cork from the bottle. However, the automatic corkscrews are not capable of reinserting the cork into the bottle. Instead, if a person desires to save a part of a bottle of wine, he or she must manually reinsert the cork into the bottle. Reinsertion of the cork can be difficult because the cork expands once it is removed from the bottle so that it no longer fits easily. When force is applied to the cork to force it into the bottle, the cork tends to expand even further rather than go into the bottle.
Accordingly, a corkscrew apparatus is needed which can more easily and conveniently reinsert the cork into a bottle so that partially used bottles of wine can be saved.